Beef Marinara

As this is my inaugural post, I am going to lead off with our #1 household favorite - Beef Marinara. It is essentially fancy pasta with meat sauce. The good news is it uses stew meat (cheaper & tastier than ground beef) and allows you to make your own tomato sauce. The meat sauce is best served on a pasta with some serious surface area (rotini, penne, macaroni, etc.) You can of course use your favorite spaghetti or whatever you darn well choose. This is always a clean plate dinner for Erin (my wife) and our boys. I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

1 box/bag of pasta (12ish oz)

1 28 oz can of tomato sauce

1 14 oz can died tomatoes (don't drain)

2ish lbs of beef stew meat

1/2 a diced onion (Not pictured - I forgot)

1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning

1 Tbsp Garlic Powder

1 Tbsp Oregano

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (1/2 tsp for less spice)

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

Click here for a PRINTABLE RECIPE.

Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper to your crockpot.

Add stew meat and diced onion then stir it up until combined. Cover & cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Prepare your pasta as directed 30ish minutes before dinner.

Use serving forks to "pull" the stew meat apart. It should be so tender it will shred very easily. When you are done pulling the meat, stir so that the meat gets sauced.

Now add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Stir to combine and serve.

If you wanted to add cheese (Parmesan or mozzarella) or fresh herbs (basil) this would be the time to do so.

Beef Marinara with Sauteed Zucchini & Sweet Corn

Top with parmesean cheese, serve & enjoy!